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New Details Emerge on Upcoming Meetings Industry Climate Conference

EMEA leader in green dress speaking on main stage

As fierce debate regarding climate-change mitigation efforts took place during the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York, the leaders of Convene 4 Climate (C4C)—the business events industry’s own climate-action and sustainability conference—released information about the October 16-17 gathering set for Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Following up on the inaugural Convene 4 Climate event in October 2024 that hosted 110 industry leaders in Barcelona, Spain, PCMA and the National Convention Bureaux of Europe announced on September 23 various program elements for the second edition, including an opening-session conversation featuring a senior United Nations representative.

“Business events possess a critical platform to accelerate solutions,” said Sherrif Karamat, PCMA and CEMA president and CEO. “C4C ensures that meetings and events are not only sustainable in practice but also catalytic in driving systemic climate action.”

[Related: New and Renovated Meetings Properties That Are Prioritizing Sustainability]

Deeper Dives 

Other program content will include a look at German engineering firm Bosch’s model for embedding sustainability across operations and how it can work for other firms, plus peer circles addressing how to set organizational sustainability goals, seek sustainable alternatives in various event activities, find the best carbon calculators and other strategies.

attendees brainstorming at round tables
Small-group discussions, C4C 2024. Credit: Joan Gosa.

“C4C is more than a gathering—it is a global platform and movement designed to push the business-events community and the broader business world toward sustainability and regeneration,” PCMA said in a statement. This year, the event is capped at 150 attendees.

Foundational partners for C4C include Destination Canada, Fáilte Ireland, Marina Bay Sands and United Airlines, as well as supporting partner Maritz, “a group of forward-looking organizations that are deeply aligned with C4C’s core philosophy: driven by responsibility, fueled by technology to deliver transformation.”

Focused on collaboration, innovation, integrity and inclusivity, C4C “seeks to redefine success…by creating lasting environmental, social and economic value,” PCMA noted. Some proof: Planners can read a report featuring outcomes and tactics developed in challenge-focused group workshops at the 2024 event.

The full itinerary for Convene 4 Climate 2025 in Rotterdam can be found here

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About the author
Rob Carey | Content Manager, Features & News

Rob Carey serves as content manager, news and features for Meetings Today, where he leads coverage of the latest trends, happenings, data and insights related to corporate meetings and incentives as well as association conventions and exhibitions.

 

Carey has been covering the business-events industry since 1992, when he was hired as an intern at Successful Meetings magazine in New York while still a student at Columbia University. During his 15 years at SM’s parent company Nielsen, Carey moved steadily through the ranks to become editorial director for Successful Meetings, Meeting News and the Meeting World conference and exhibition. SM and MN won several FOLIO: Eddie Awards for editorial coverage during his tenure.  

 

Carey then spent 11 years as principal of Meetings & Hospitality Insight, covering not just the MICE market for various industry publications but also writing about business disciplines such as hotel management, golf-facility management, small-business operations, middle-market leadership and others. For several years he wrote the annual trends white paper for the International Association of Conference Centers.  

 

In 2018, Carey became a senior content producer for MeetingsNet, an Informa media brand, and a panel moderator for Informa’s Pharma Forum annual event. 

 

Come September 2025, he moved to Meetings Today.  

 

A native of New York  Carey now resides in the Phoenix/Scottsdale metro area with his wife Kelley and their dog Ziggy.